Articles by Mark Taylor

  By Andrea Germanos Common Dreams (5/29/17) The Pentagon said last week that there were “no credible indications of civilian casualties” from the latest U.S. Navy SEALs raid on a village in Yemen. Yet new reporting by The Intercept, citing eyewitness accounts, offers more evidence to contradict the military’s claim. Residents of the village in Mareb province said that there were in fact 10 civilians killed and wounded, including a 15-year old child who was trying to flee a barrage of firing from Apache helicopters. “My little brother Abdullah ran for his life with the other women and children. They…

By Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone (5/26/17) The story of Greg Gianforte, a fiend who just wiped out a Democrat in a congressional race about ten minutes after being charged with assaulting a reporter, is déjà vu all over again. How low do you have to sink to lose an election in this country? Republicans have been trying to answer that question for years. But they’ve been unable to find out, because Democrats somehow keep failing to beat them. There is now a sizable list of election results involving Republican candidates who survived seemingly unsurvivable scandals to win higher office. The…

  By Ralph Nader Nader.org  (5/16/17) All over America, school children are completing another academic year before their summer vacation. This invites the questions, what did they learn and what did they do with what they learned? I’m not talking about their test scores, nor the latest fads in rebranding education, like the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curriculum that de-emphasizes the first two thirds of the old mantra – reading, writing and arithmetic. Rather, I am questioning what they learned about their real-world surroundings, about preparing themselves for life as citizens, workers, consumers, taxpayers, voters and members of…

  Progressives claim they are against the wars and all the militarism. OK, but then why support an authoritarian control over the issuance of the thing called money? The sovereign ‘authority’ to spend and then tax is a trap by which The People are ensnared into militarism they do not want. An ancient strategy called out by David Graeber in his book “Debt: The First 5000 Years.” Simple plan really – government declares its supreme authority to issue currency and first spends it into existence on the military. Then the self proclaimed authoritarian government (same self-declared nonsense as the Divine…

  By Kate Aronoff In These Times (5/12/17) The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind, politically speaking. Most of it has to do with the onslaught of chaos that followed Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey—a move political scientists agree is off the spectrum of normalcy in the history of the American presidency. Before his termination, Comey was leading an investigation into the Trump team’s alleged ties to the Russian government. Keith Ellison, deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has said “we are witnessing a constitutional crisis.” Calls for impeachment are in…

  By Neal Gabler Bill Moyers & Company (5/17/17) “Our Constitution works.” So declared newly installed President Gerald Ford in 1974 after Richard Nixon’s resignation. “Our great republic is a government of laws and not of men.” Oh glory be! All’s well that ends well. That has been the conventional wisdom ever since. Nixon was checked by checks and balanced by balances. The republic was saved, proving, in the words not only of Ford but of just about everyone, that the system does indeed work. Except for one thing: It didn’t. In fact, the real lesson of Watergate is not…

TheCommonerCall.org   By Corynne McSherry Common Dreams (5/19/17) Pretty much everyone says they are in favor of net neutrality–the idea that service providers shouldn’t engage in data discrimination, but should instead remain neutral in how they treat the content that flows over their networks. But actions speak louder than words, and today’s action by the FCC speaks volumes. After weeks of hand-waving and an aggressive misinformation campaign by major telecom companies, the FCC has taken the first concrete step toward dismantling the net neutrality protections it adopted two years ago. Specifically, the FCC is proposing a rule that would reclassify broadband…

TheCommonerCall.org   Nikki Haley, US Ambassador to the United Nations has unilaterally started making policy for the US that breaks new ground and accelerates the chances for further strife in the region. Her call for the US to acknowledge the most reactionary possibilities for dividing disputed land are also fundamental Christian code phrases for the opening stages of Armageddon. She is mixing her religious beliefs with her duties as an unelected government official in a dangerous way, demonstrating a desire to see the fulfillment of prophecies that include the complete destruction of our world so the “chosen” can ascend to…

  By Richard Wolffe The Guardian (5/16/17) There is nothing Donald Trump loves more than a great superlative. He builds the tallest hotels. He is the most successful businessman. His inaugural crowds were the biggest ever. None of these claims are remotely true, no matter how exaggerated the adjective nor how emphatic the delivery. But after his alleged blabbing of highly classified intelligence to the Russians, Trump can now lay claim to the greatest superlative of any sitting president: he is the biggest bozo of them all. Bigger than the Bush who thought invading Iraq would be easy. Bigger than…

TheCommonerCall.org   By Jim Pratt Environmental Defense Fund (5/10/17) Congress is moving forward with sweeping legislation that could undercut major laws that keep our food, water, workers and children’s products safe. Yet, surprisingly little attention has been paid to a bill that could drastically reshape the way we think about government, while threatening to undermine the very idea that any product at all – from pacifiers to peanuts – will remain safe going forward. It’s what Steve Bannon has in mind when he says he wants to deconstruct the administrative state. And it paves the way for a shoddy government…

I normally have a modicum of respect for you and your willingness to hammer Democrats as much as Republicans, but this issue with whiny Dan Peak, and all the other Russia this and that baloney has left me disappointed. C’mon, we all know that Washington has used Russia as one of it’s major go to whipping boys to distract from its real crimes, and this is no different. It started with crybaby Hillary supporters and now, thanks to you, is ongoing. Even Noam Chomsky has claimed most of it is shallow, and leading to nowhere. And what Mr. Peak and…